Chinese symbol for “material”
资料
zī liào
Traditional: 資料
material; resources; data; information
The closest CC-CEDICT match for material is 资料 (zī liào), defined as: material; resources; data; information; profile (Internet); measure word: 份 (fèn), 个 (gè).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “material”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 材料 | cái liào | (raw) material; data |
| 料 | liào | material; stuff |
| 材 | cái | material; timber |
| 物料 | wù liào | material |
| 有形 | yǒu xíng | material; tangible; visible; shapely |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 资料.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 资源 (資源) | zī yuán | natural resource (such as water or minerals); resource (such as manpower or tourism) |
| 投资 (投資) | tóu zī | investment; to invest |
| 资金 (資金) | zī jīn | funds; capital |
| 资本 (資本) | zī běn | capital (economics) |
| 资格 (資格) | zī gé | qualifications; seniority |
| 材料 | cái liào | (raw) material; data |
| 原料 | yuán liào | raw material |
| 燃料 | rán liào | fuel |
See also: Japanese symbol for “material”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.